Wii U Basic Being Discontinued? Nintendo Says No

It seems that in the run-up to this year's E3 Conference, there is some uncertainty about the future of the 8GB Basic version of Nintendo's Wii U console. It seems that GameStop has issued orders recalling unopened consoles.

According to a report yesterday on Kotaku, GameStop has been sending word to certain stores that all new and unopened Wii U Basic consoles will have to be returned to corporate if they are not sold by June 18th. Initial attempts to get some explanation from either Nintendo or GameStop were unsuccessful, but Kotaku speculated that the console was being discontinued. The $300 Basic model has only 8GB of onboard storage, while the Deluxe console has 32GB, comes with Nintendo Land bundled, and is only $50 more expensive. It seems that the Deluxe model has consistently sold better than the Basic version.

Today, however, Nintendo denied rumors that the Wii U Basic was being discontinued. The company said in a statement that only some Basic consoles will be recalled. The goal, Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta said, is to "rebalance" stocks of the poorer-selling console.

Scibetta said that customers who prefer the Basic console will still be able to find it, even after the June 18th recall.